Darkness Before Dawn
by Emiko Venomus
Summary: Kai's expressing life as he normally does after the Overlord is officially dead: He babysits for Jay and Nya, he works part-time at a metal forgery, and hangs out with Zane in their crappy apartment. But there are some pretty strange things beginning to happen, especially to his new niece, and only Lloyd seems to know what the darkness can REALLY do before the sun begins to rise...


**With the help of my much loved sister Kairi, I finally have began my after-Overlord fanfiction. *smileyface* I hope you guys like the first chapter!**

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"I think you're really annoying."

"You know what? I really don't care."

Kai stuck his face into the quiet crook of his arm, where he hoped to find some kind of solitude from the consistent bickering of his brothers and fellow Ninja friends. It seemed like no matter what he did, though, the squabbling of Cole and Garmadon just wouldn't stop. It was partially because Cole and Garmadon had clashing personalities. It was also partially because it was warm out, and it seemed like Kai was the only one whose temper didn't rise with the mercury in the thermometer. Yeah, it was a humungous shocker to him, too. Who would've guessed that the hotheaded ninja of fire wasn't getting irritated under the baking heat of the sun, about to turn into a gooey casserole right there in the middle of the street?

Fourteen days, fifteen months, and three hours. That's how long it took Kai to finally begin to relax after the Overlord was finally gone. He wasn't even counting the endless days he spent wandering around doing absolutely nothing, with absolutely nothing on his agenda, trying to scope out some kind of trouble for him to stop. To be honest, though a carefree lifestyle was great, he missed that ninja part of him more than he ever thought he'd miss his own hand. It was too big of an impact, too big of a jolt, to not be able to miss.

Ninjago City was back to normal, though there was a worse town curfew than there had originally been. People still didn't know his face, since usually when they saw him it was hidden behind the red mask used to conceal his identity, so when they ran into him while barreling down the streets, no one apologized or even thanked him for saving the world. The Ninja's images seemed to be everywhere, advertising products for little kids, living on through comic books and even magazines underneath the thick headlines, "WHERE ARE THEY NOW?" or "BEHIND THE MASK: WITNESS ENCOUNTERS OF THE NINJAS' TRUE IDENTITIES."

Of course, the "witnesses" gave totally bogus descriptions of them to cough up to sketch artists, but Cole seemed regularly flattered by how the nation perceived him. Buff. Big. Heroic. And Kai thought _he _was the one with the inflated ego! He'd never seen anyone's scriptures actually come anywhere near accurate's ballpark, especially of himself, whom had been portrayed as a very skeletal human being, as well as someone who resembled a pirate more than a Ninja. People were closer to the center circle when they were describing Lloyd to the world.

Under the canopy of the striped umbrella's shelter, Kai leaned against the glass table to bury his face deeper into his arms. Today was the annual day of the Ninja's reuniting that happened every so often, where everyone gathered to talk about everything that everyone had missed. It wasn't like Kai never saw these guys—after all, he and Zane rented an apartment that was actually caught for cheap in the heart of Ninjago City, just hovering above the next-door building where Zane now had a steady job, even though he seemed to be a little awkward when working at a department store. The days he wasn't at school, anyway. It just sometimes felt a little more appropriate when there was an official gathering instead of informal phone calls and handwritten letters that took forever to answer. They sat under the sun, which glowered over _Miss Scarlet Fever, _which was a popular restaurant deep within the heart of Ninjago City. They rented the long table in the front, where they could observe the more appropriate roads and passerby's from behind an iron gate that reached half Kai's waist. It also gave them a view of Grand Sensei Darreth's Mojo Dojo, who today couldn't make it under the mounds of new students who wanted to learn the ways of the Ninja. Kai paid a lot of visits to that place just to give the kids a good rile up, and also to add on to Darreth's control levels. It was kind of funny to see the kids gaze in awe when he whipped out his fire powers through the elemental sword the Temple of Light had given him.

Garmadon gave a heavy sigh. Thankfully, the previous argument of which avenue was the best course to take when traveling here from another village was over between he and the earth ninja. So far, the only ones who were able to arrive were Zane and Kai, plus Garmadon the loner, and Cole, who'd just miraculously appeared in shorts, plus a comfy grey T-shirt, with a yellow smoothie in his hand and earbuds jammed into his ears. Cole lounged in his seat, legs stretched out lithely, lazily, like a cat did. He looked peaceful with a hint of annoyance, and though he'd ditched the earbuds, he bobbed his head in tune to the rhythm of honking car horns.

Zane played with his straw. Garmadon rested back against his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, pretending as though he could block out the world by not observing it. An awkward silence hung between them, and that could've developed through a number of reasons, but Kai figured it centered particularly around the fact that they hadn't seen each other in four months. He'd tried to ask Cole what he was up to. The Ninja of earth had refused to give any details until everyone had arrived.

Kai sighed heavily. This was definitely awkward.

The awkwardness was soon broken when he heard the squeal of a young child from behind him. He turned in his seat to see Nya, squinting her eyes in the harsh rays of the sunlight, holding in her arms a small, pink lump that Kai hadn't seen in forever. At her side, Jay carried a thick, black bag, which did accompany a stroller. They both had, despite the heat, smiles on their faces. It was nice.

The baby squealed again. Jay and Nya's daughter, Tokemi, was born exactly six months ago, at exactly eleven-eleven in the morning. Kai remembered well how he walked into the hospital at nine with a video camera in hand, the boys trailing behind him, grinning from ear to ear. Jay had been fast asleep in the ratty, uncomfortable, floral-designed chair at her bedside. And Nya had been wide awake with the beginning of her contractions.

It had been a long, hard ride for Nya and Tokemi, that was for sure. They found out of her pregnancy not too long after the Overlord was defeated. As you can imagine it didn't go to well for Kai in the beginning—just making an equation where Jay + Nya = Tokemi made his head spin and his lunch come crawling back up his throat—but he eventually got over it. Nya caught sight of him and held Tokemi close to her chest, but waved with the bat of a hand. Kai found himself smiling. "My sister!" he gasped. He jumped out of his seat to help Jay with the baby's things.

There were many comments exchanged. Yes, they were positive ones; Garmadon was the only one who remained quiet. Tokemi bubbled spit out of her mouth when she saw Kai. She also made some weird noise that had absolutely nothing to do with real words. Nya proudly handed her over so that Kai could caress his niece in his arms.

Tokemi's eyes were a brilliant shade of green. That clearly came from Jay. Her head was haloed in the same dark color as Nya's dirty brown hair. She was one of the cutest little things Kai had ever seen before in his life. Tokemi's pink summer dress was soft to the touch against Kai's bare arms. Her little feet kicked madly when she started grinning at him.

Everyone exchanged hugs. Jay hugged Zane, and said something apparently extremely funny, because they both laughed, but Kai didn't hear it. Cole wrapped his arms around Nya and twirled her in the air. "Hey, sweetheart," he said, giving her a squeeze. "Long time, no see!" Even Garmadon got hugs from the two, who previously, in another lifetime he'd been out to destroy. He seemed bashful at the thought of being accepted.

Kai bounced Tokemi in his arms. He spent as much time as he could with his niece. Nya depended on him to babysit a lot, because she was working a job as a waitress at _Longbottom Dock _and Jay was always trying to tack in a couple extra hours at his job as a mechanist at some store Kai couldn't remember. They both lived out of Ninjago City, in a peaceful little place called Soliloquy, which seemed like the best place they could live. Small little cottage to live in, plus a beautiful landscape behind them…Kai couldn't imagine a better life for his sister, with a loving husband and child. Kai stroked Tokemi's cheek. Such a pretty baby…

"You look like you're about to steal her," said Cole. Kai raised his eyes to find everyone watching him. Kai raised a brow.

"I wouldn't do that," he said, but looked back down at the little girl. She reached upwards with her tiny hand to bat at his nose. His heart wrenched. A small smile came to his lips.

No one seemed convinced. Kai really did look like he was about to make off with Jay and Nya's daughter. But they ignored it, pulling out chairs for the couple to sit in, and ungraciously forcing Kai to give up the adorable baby back to her mother. Tokemi went willingly, not as if she was scared of Kai or anything. Zane took his seat beside the fire ninja and listened to Nya tell the story of their chaotic morning. Apparently, the baby supplies had disappeared, leaving them running all over the place in search for their things. Kai tried to listen intently, but found there was a strange prickle on the back of his neck. It was weird.

It got even weirder when he glanced at Tokemi and saw her staring at him. Sure, that was fine. Babies stared at people all the time. But there was something strange happening inside his head. It sounded almost like…like a _voice. _He couldn't understand what it was saying, but it sounded like a low hum in the back of his blinked, confused. Tokemi did the same. When he tilted his head, so did she. Kai felt himself frowning.

And Tokemi frowned, too.

It sent him into a frenzy. For a second he thought he was teaching her something. But no baby just extraordinarily learned how to frown on the first try. Kai placed his hands on the table. He was _trying _to shove his chair away from the table so he could go, but he was steeled to the spot. Tokemi reached out her hands from Nya's lap and, without breaking eye contact, put her hands on the table _just like he did. _

Kai jumped. His reaction was so bad, it scared Zane. The nindroid looked at him, startled. "Brother?"

Kai glanced between Tokemi and Zane. Everyone had fallen silent. "Y-yeah?"

"Is something wrong?" asked Cole. He sat forward to peer at Kai. He didn't like how everyone was looking at him so funny.

"No." Kai lied. _Yes. My niece is copying me._

Nya's arms around her baby's waist tightened. She pulled the baby closer to her chest. "Toki?" She bobbed her daughter on her knee. Jay glanced down in concern.

But the baby just smiled at Kai. A slow grin spread across her chubby cheeks. It brightened her face then, making a transformation. Tokemi smacked her hands against the table, hard.

What seemed like a simple gesture resulted in a shockwave of power through the whole table.

It shook, practically knocking over the umbrella, while successfully toppling down their water glasses and sending liquid all over the table. A large, jagged crack flitted across the surface of the table. Tokemi laughed proudly while everyone else around them watched each Ninja (plus Garmadon) leap to their feet.

"Did you see that?"

"Your daughter just shook the whole earth!"

"Do you think she created some kind of elemental reaction?"

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Tokemi!"

It was a bustle of noise. Nya struggled to keep the writhing baby in her arms, who seemed to have enjoyed making that kind of an impact on the table. Jay and Nya looked upset. Everyone was trying to figure out how to deal with the table, which was soaked, when Sensei Wu and Lloyd arrived on the scene.

Lloyd froze when he saw the table. The whole thing would've been split in half if there wasn't the metal guards surrounding the shape. "Whoooaaaa," Lloyd gaped. He took a hesitant step forward. Kai himself was still puzzling over it. "What did you do, Cole?"

"It was _not _me," Cole said. He jammed a thumb in Tokemi's direction. "It was Babezilla over there."

Tokemi giggled loudly and performed that weird move where babies use their feet to scoot them forward, although she didn't move because Nya was still holding her. She and her husband exchanged uncomfortable glances.

Lloyd frowned, while Sensei Wu, who didn't have his staff today, observed the table. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "How did a _baby _do that?" Lloyd asked. He poked the table, then recoiled when his hand touched the wet exterior.

Sensei sighed. When he did, everyone looked at him, and it didn't take long for a billion questions to fly out their mouths. "How did she do that?" "You know why, don't you, Sensei?" "Wu?" "Is it because I was right this whole time, and Jay _is _actually part Sasquatch?" "COLE." The old man tolerated their questions with silence until everyone realized that was him waiting for them to shut up. They quieted down.

Lloyd crossed his arms over his broad chest beside his uncle. "What's going on, Sensei?" Lloyd had been living with his uncle for the past couple of months in the newly rebuilt monastery just off the mountains. It was some kind of secret Green Ninja thing that neither would tell anyone about. The secrets were _killing _Kai. He had wanted to know what was up. But right now, this thing with Tokemi seemed a little more important than whatever specialized Green Training Lloyd was receiving.

Sensei Wu nodded curtly. Kai held his breath. "Unfortunately," sighed the old, wise man, "but it cannot be discussed here. We must travel somewhere where it is…untainted by eavesdroppers."

Garmadon shifted on his feet at Kai's side. Zane stood straighter. "Our apartment it remote," he stated. Kai gave him a sideways glance.

"Zane, I don't think we qualify; we can hear our neighbors _perfectly _fine every night when they're—"

"Baby on board!" Jay yelped. Kai clamped his mouth shut.

Wu exchanged a look with Lloyd. Whatever Sensei knew, so did the Green Ninja; Kai felt hopelessly left out. Cole swung his earbuds in circles through the air. "I'd offer you guys to come to my place, but my dorm isn't exactly isolated," he referred to his college home, somewhere far from anything and everything that had to do with the Oppenheimer. "Jake McQueen stays in there with me. I really don't think he'd keep his nose out of my business if I brought a crowd."

"We could head back to our house," Nya suggested. Tokemi spat bubbles out her lips. "We live out in the country. I'm sure no one would listen in there. Why, Sensei? Is it bad?"

Wu never answered that question. He turned to give Lloyd an extremely long look. "We must act now," he warned, "before it is too late."

"Too…late?" Kai repeated.

The old man never answered that, either. Jay grabbed ahold of Nya's shoulder in concern for their baby. Kai, too, could feel his heart drop. What was happening with Tokemi? He tried to catch the baby's eye, to grab a part of that previous connection again. Didn't work. The baby was too into blowing spit bubbles than to pay attention. Whatever previous link they'd had was gone.

"We must go immediately," Sensei Wu said. Lloyd nodded curtly. He turned to his friends.

"We'll have to split up to not arouse suspicion," said the Green Ninja. "Jay, Nya, you guys take Wu back to your place. Cole, Zane, you guys know where it is, right? Take the bus—but don't leave until a few minutes after we've gone down the street before you go looking for one. Dad, you need to find Mom, and tell her where we are. And Kai, you come with me."

Everyone nodded. Jay and Nya looked devastated. Kai was just confused. He didn't understand what was really happening anyway—after all, he'd witnessed Tokemi slam her fists into the table and split it in half. Now Lloyd and Wu were telling him there was something going on? Jay frantically tried to gather Tokemi's things. Their assembly of Ninja for catching up was long forgotten. It seemed like the excitement Kai had been wishing for was beginning to rise, but not in the form he wanted it to come. Nya strapped Toki into her stroller while Garmadon ran into the restaurant to alert the manager that the table was broken. Cole and Zane stood side by side and tried to help move things along.

Kai walked up to Nya, and without a word, pulled her into his arms. He could feel that something extremely difficult was about to happen. She was trembling, he noticed, and it made him feel awful. Was it his fault Toki had learned how to smack tables? He pressed his lips to Nya's forehead. "See you there," he whispered, feeling like an undercover agent, or perhaps a runaway convict. Nya nodded and took off after Jay and Wu to speed down the sidewalk towards their car. Cole and Zane waited for the Walkers' silver car to pass them before they saluted Lloyd and Kai goodbye. No one asked questions. They'd dealt with these things before. But Kai couldn't help the unusual feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Come on," Lloyd said. He pushed Kai in the direction opposite of what the others had gone in.

"Where are we going?"

"The long way around."

Lloyd maneuvered him six blocks and three alleys around before they arrived anywhere near where he perched his transportation. Hidden just in the outskirts, waiting patiently, was the Ultimate Dragon. Kai caught sight of Fireball and offered a weak smile. The dragon heaved breath in their faces.

"Easy, boy," Lloyd said. He walked towards them confidently. "We have to hurry."

"Lloyd?" Kai asked of the young kid as he fixed something with a dragon's reins. Lloyd barely glanced at him. "What's happening, exactly?"

"We'll figure that out soon enough," he said, "but for now, be patient and climb on."

Kai patted the heads as he went by, trying to make sense of everything. He had just been able to slip his foot into the stirrup when he heard Lloyd make a noise of exasperation. He glanced at the ninja. Lloyd's eyes widened. "Kai, look out!" He shouted, but it was too late. Kai felt it hit him in the back, piercing into his skin. He yelped as the arrow struck him. His footing lost, and Kai fell hurdling towards the ground. But before he made it there, he lost his senses and everything went black.

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**Please review! ;P And thanks bunches for reading! -Emi**


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